Fernando Alonso became the first driver to win three races this season with a dominant victory in a thrilling German Grand Prix but who was your Driver of the Day?

Fernando Alonso

Looked quick in dry conditions on Saturday morning as he topped the times in third and final practice. Carried that form into a wet qualifying to secure his second pole position of the season. Made a lightening getaway from pole and controlled the race in the first two stints. Was put under pressure by Jenson Button in the final stint, but resisted the McLaren’s attack and then kept enough in reserve to pull away in the closing laps and secure his third win of the season and 30th of his career, one less than 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell.

Jenson Button

Topped the opening session of the weekend, but struggled to get his tyres working in wet conditions and could only qualify seventh which became sixth with Mark Webber’s five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, one place ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Made a good start and rose up to fifth in the early stages before putting good moves on Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher at the hairpin to rise up to third. Slick pit work got him out ahead of Vettel for second before pursuing leader Alonso. Lost a position to Vettel on the penultimate lap but got second back after the race when Vettel was penalised by 20-seconds for an illegal pass.

Kimi Raikkonen

Looked good in Friday practice but struggled in wet conditions and could only qualify 10th. Showed good race pace and supreme race-craft, including a brilliant move on Paul di Resta early in the race. Ran the first two stints on the soft tyre which allowed him to climb up the first to fourth, finishing 16 seconds off leader Alonso. Promoted to third after Vettel’s penalty for his fourth podium of the season. Moved up to fourth in the championship with 98 points.

Kamui Kobayashi

Struggled in wet conditions in qualifying and failed to make it into Q3. Started 12th and showed that the Sauber had good pace in the dry, quickly rising up into the top 10 with some bullish moves. Ran deep into the race which helped him move up the order before crossing the line to finish fifth, one place ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez. Promoted to fourth after Vettel’s penalty to score good points and strengthen the team’s grip on sixth place in the constructors’.

Sergio Perez

Like his Sauber team-mate Kobayashi, struggled for pace in qualifying and started a disappointing 17th. Showed impressive pace and made up seven places in the first 10 laps. Thought he had a puncture which forced him into an early pit stop, but battled back up the field with some good overtaking moves to finish a strong sixth.

If it ‘ought to be Fernando’ why vote a different way? I hope you don’t vote in elections or at your loacal parent teachers meeting in that manner. ‘I ought to vote for new text books but I voted for a new smoking shelter instead’.

This one was not really all that difficult, Alonso won again in arguably the third fastest car. Thorough Hamilton fan here, but Alosno just gets better and better.

I don’t think the Ferrari is all that bad a car. It’s just that Massa can’t drive it.
They should bring Giancarlo Fisichella in for the remainder of the season and for next year as well. Then get Perez for 2014.

But isn’t the excitement also in how the other teams are now playing catch up, they are having to gamble with strategies to get ahead, develop better parts etc etc. It’s hardly domination yet, and the winner is still highly unpredicatable, if you are finding this boring the switch off, your obviously just watching GPs waiting for crashes.

This one is not easy, but the I giveit to Alonso. I was thinking between Button and Alonso. Button did a very good job and he got very close to winning the race, but the reason he did not is because Alonso was a better driver today.
Alonso was astonisging yesterday and he took a pole. In the race, he had to fight every single second because hewas always under pressure from either button or vettel.

Alonso was not only the driver of the day but driver of the entire race weekend, starting from Q3 where he had the sense, unlike any of his rivals to come into the pits and put on an extra set of wets.

Stayed out in the lead the whole race, didn’t get phased when Jenson closed in then extended the lead when Jenson faded.

At the start of this season I’d have said Alonso / Hamilton and Vettel were about even but Alonso’s running rings round everyone this season. Most defnitely in a class of his own.

Also funny how Alonso naturally spoke in English during the warm-down lap. Its a shame Ferrai feel that they have to speak in Italian during the race, not necessarily because they are an Italian team and its easier to communicate this way (as others have argued), but to try and get one over on everyone else just for the sake of it. It’s a shame they feel like they have to operate this way. If it is more natural for them to speak in Italian, why not so on the warm down lap?

This is the Formula One World Championship. Not the F1 british championship. Have you ever thought that people in Italy who watch the race might get sick of every driver radio being broadcast in English.

Seriously, comments like this come off as a bit “white power”ish to me.

Funny… A Spanish driver who speaks fluent Italian, driving for an Italian team with many Italian crew and they speak Italian over the radio. Not a conspiracy, not thumbing their noses at anyone, just doing what makes most sense to them.

for me kobayashi …his seat is in threat with news coming off that HK is in the prime slot to bag the seat …this year is probably a make or break season for Koba …as of now the Japanese companies are no more that dominant in promting themselves via F1 so he does not come with load of money …somehow is there a glass barrier for a Japenese driver to get a crack on a top end seat of the likes of Mclaren, red bull, ferrari ..

It has to go to Fernando Alonso.
He drove a flawless race, always in control of his position under the attacks from Vettel and Button (and Hamilton).

Button made a great race too, but he made a mistake in lap 44 which probably cost him his lack of pace in the closing laps and it’s arguable that he benefited from lapped team mate Hamilton move on Vettel to get to 2nd.

Has to be Alonso – well judged race and a great weekend for him.
Button did well.
Vettel used his car well (and with some maturity) but lost it all with impatience when it really mattered (back to 2009?)
Kimi and the Saubers deserve gongs for really trying hard all race and taking advantage of the situation on a day when two of the usual front runners had lost the edge.
Surely Red Bull has to look at its policy of lower top speed in exchange for aero & engine management that gives more corner grip? If they fall back in the pack they can’t take advantage of their great cornering ability and are beaten on top speed by the rabbits.

James – Alonso a clear choice this weekend. Absorbs pressure like no other…..to the point of making the team radio sound like a testing session! I feel kimi drove better than button with great race craft shown throughout the race. Don’t quite understand the Lotus strategy choice of options in the second stint when he was one of the quickest guys the day before on the prime tyre?? Great race though and may it continue next weekend!!!

Half way through the season and beginning to look like the WDC is Alonso’s to lose. I have voted for Kimi this time it is always harder to race from the mid pack and he has made a few fine overtakes during the race.

When did you see that Ferrari is slower car. Not at all, Ferrari one of the fastest car out there.

When JB close the gap to Alonso, that doesn’t mean McLaren is faster, Alonso just drive at control pace to preserve his tyre. he know even let McLaren can run total lap at 0.1-0.2 sec faster than him but they can’t pass him.

Alonso is always made fastest sector 1, with make some gap before DRS zone, so no one get close enough to him in DRS zone, just get closer but never attact him with DRS. So he know he is quite safe in passing zone.

I’ve clicked on Alonso for driver of the day… Masterful performance in qualifying with a great stratergy by Ferrari. The on race day he went off on his own and stayed at the front of the pack.

I don’t want to play the inferoir car card to much, but it is evident that the Ferrari is not the best car out there by some distance. Red Bull are still ahead of everyone and McLaren had a superior car in Hockenheim! It’s all very close, but for me it marks Fernando Alonso as a class apart!

It has BECOME a very good car over the 10 GPs we’ve had so far. But overall it isn’t the best car and anyone can see this without even having to be a “Motorhead”.

McLaren have a fantastic car and they’ve been ironing out some glitches. Red Bull is by far the best machine out there and if it weren’t for some strange mistakes, everything would be much closer and Red Bull would practically have already won the constructor’s title. Or maybe I’m mad and I’m reading the whole scenario a different way.

This isn’t just Alonso! It’s a factor between Maranello and Driver… That’s what makes this all so fascinating.

I dont think many would question these percentages for Fernando. Showing his skill and maturity. Controlling and measuring his runs in each stint. Taking it easy and looking after the tyres through the stints, only pushing 100% at DRS position not to be overtaken. Briliant drive, calm, aggressive when needed to be when Hamilton tried to re-pass him. Drove away easily from button with 5 laps remaining, showing he had more than enough tyres this time around.

I sometimes think the winner should be excluded from these polls, especially if they had a relatively untroubled run at front from the start. Having said that, some nice driving from Fernando this time (and I’m the opposite of a fan).

Jenson had some nice moves and a great day (and got my vote), but there does have to be a mention in despatches for Lewis. The unlapping overtake on Seb was gorgeous, even if it did highlight a potential rules problem. Meeting the criteria for DRS and a blue flag is a bit of a conflict!

Special mention to Jenson Button, and that’s why I want to post this one on its own. Jenson has had a bad hand at too many races this season so far. He is a fantastic driver and yesterday he showed how good he really is with his solky driving. Classy performer and was miles ahead of the rest of the pack with Alonso first this week. I only hope McLaren really back Jenson a bit more. It always seems to me he’s second at McLaren… Don’t know why I get that feeling!

James, this is way off topic, but I’m wondering why Ferrari are allowed to communicate with Alonso in Italian over the radio. This certainly doesn’t help the fans to understand what’s going on. Also, other teams don’ t know what’s going on either. Are we heading towards radio remarks in Russian, Spanish, German etc… ?

This topic is getting irritating. Is it so hard to understand that millions of fans all over the world CAN understand and speak Italian and, at the same time millions of fans CAN NOT neither speak nor understand ENGLISH? There are lots of languages out there that are not English, you can survive if you speak them, you can even be a F1 fan if you wish.

I’m a Ferrari and Alonso fan, but Kobayashi was great in Germany.
Durring and after the race, the main focus is on the leaders and we rarely have the focus on one of these guys which are producing quality drives.

I just wish Kobayashi would be more consistent.

Alonso also deserves a mention for driving without mistakes while under presure for basicaly a whole race.

Perez also had another great race. The Sauber drivers need to put that car in the first 3 rows in qualifying to have a better chance at podiums.

His nickname amongst non supporters used to be Teflonso. U think the man should be called sponge, he soaks up pressure, drives his own race and is undaunted by whoever is behind him. We should be grateful that we are witnessing him at his peak

Yes he drove really well……BUT, I don’t think he was under that much pressure.
In the early laps, he pulled away from Vettel.
Vettel then began to reel him in, but never got near enough to attempt an overtake.
Meanwhile Button was closing on Vettel,passed him out of the pits, then got nearer to FA, but never near enough to attempt an overtake.

Sure, FA was able to respond each time, apparently with ease, which was great….BUT, I don’t think he was under the race-long pressure some posters are claiming.

Both Vettel and then Button were within the DRS zone to Alonso for most of the race yet neither were not able to pull a move in him. IMO he was under pressure from both throughout the race but was masterful in keeping them at bay when it mattered most not allowing them the opportunity. to pass him

James why not Vettel? Did all was asked. Car clearly not faaster than the ferrari.

I feel Seb was let down by the team. Horner & co should have twigged quickly and given Seb 2 bits of advice:
– Don’t worry about HAM, let him pass you asap
– Give BUT p2 back, because p3 is better than a penalty
Sometimes the prob with pitwall personnel is lack of ruffage in the diet, leading to sub-optimal performance. I recommend weetabix and/or prune juice. Plenty of liquids.

Agree with your second point but having HAM in front of Vettel and NOT in front of Alonso was obviously crucial. The point is that you didn’t know up front whether or not Alonso would be able to keep Lewis behind, however there were 2 possible outcomes:
- he did keep him behind, which would put a car in between, therefore giving Fernando another second or so in between him and Vettel, crucial in pitstops
- he could not keep him behind, which would have meant Lewis was a lot faster and could drive away from the Ferrari. In this case there would have been no difference.

The point is, was it worth for Vettel to push hard to keep Lewis from unlapping him (yes perhaps but what would it have done to his tires).

So all in all I think Horner and co did the right thing by not telling Vettel to let Hamilton pass.

Vettel drove his heart out admittedly but not letting Button back past was an error of judgement sufficient to leave him out of the DOTD list in my view. I’m not really sure how he expected to get away with that one, and if he’d let Button past straight away and tried again with one lap left he should have been able to make the move stick that time.

Also there were a lot of strong drives out there yesterday. I actually went for Kamui Kobayashi because he has flattered to deceive a lot this season, really needed to start delivering results and gave the perfect response. But all the other nominees drove very good races, as did Nico Rosberg (21st to 10th). Hence there wasn’t really room for Vettel after that error either.

Alonso. How bad is he making Massa look.
Jenson – nothing that great about his move on Schumacher. It was just pure DRS and nothing more.
Special mention for Schumacher based on qualifying and fastest laps of the race by the oldest driver. Just needs that car to improve, but you cannot deny his motivation.

For me Its hard to pick the pole sitter in a Top 2 car/ Team because when you start in clear air you expect to win.
I think Jenson driove a gutsy determined race, but I could not split Kamui Kobayashi or Kimi Raikkonen only because they had to fight the cars ahead and behind so well and made ground on leaders. Kimis passes on cars of similar pace where nothing short of phenomenal I watched the lap times on the App during ads &the purple sectors on Worn tyres from both Kimi and Kamui were brilliant. Kimi had the fastest lap on worn mediums which I think was only surpassed by MS on new softs. Vettel passed illegally and went backwards- hence he should not qualify in my opinion.

Another win in not the fastest car for Alonso. He continues to impress me this season where I feel he’s driving better than he did in his championship years. We’ve seen this season how hard it is to defend against DRS but he made it look easy on Sunday. Driver of the day by a wide margin.

Also, interesting that you highlight Kimi as being 4th in the championship James. He’s been quietly putting in consistent drives this season and if the pace of the lotus improves could even mount a serious challenge this season. I hadn’t considered this until you mentioned it.

Tough decision but my vote goes to Kimi. Brilliant overtaking/racecraft… Although I fail to understand Lotus’ strategy in puttin him 2 stints on softs when he did the fastest lap in Q1 on med. It seemed like a no brainer to go SMM like the others in the front.

Who else but Fernando? He put in a Senna-esque race, dictating the pace of the race and not succumbing to pressure from behind on virtually every lap. Masterful, and the kind of stuff that will lead him to his third title by season’s end

as funny as it may sound. If Lotus could qualy better I think Kimi would be up there chasing Alonso. However, he tends to spend his race workign his way up to 2nd, 3rd or 4th and has noting left at the end for the leader. Great race from Kimi but needs to be starting top 6 each week in order to be in with a shout.

It has to be Fernando Alonso for me. He was under pressure for the whole race (the only gap was on a last lap when I managed to breath as well!) and still managed to remain calm and did his thing. Whilst this might be controversial…2nd is Lewis Hamilton for me. Jumping Vettel was a burst of fresh air (you all know why). That move was very important. Very.

Alonso for me. I’ve been critical of him in the past but this whole weekend was another example of great driving from him. I don’t think the Ferrari is as bad as Massa makes appear, but it’s still not as quick as the Red Bull or McLaren, and yet Alonso’s still pulling away at the front. Really, class of his own so far this year.

what a difficult event for all involved. and prolly half the field could be considered for drive of the weekend on some reasonable level!!
I actually DO closely follow the entire field and felt C. Pic had the event of his young career. kudos to him and his boys! I think he woulda had the upper hand even if Timo had not had his car issues…
just kinda shows the depth of talent in F1 drivers, engineers, pit bosses, and Teams this year!
having said all that, I voted for Alonso. with NO disrespect to any driver, ever – including a few of my life-long heros, Alonso simply has it going on. it takes dozens of attributes to be the biggest, baddest dawg behind the wheel. I gotta rate Alonso “among” the very bestest ever in EVERY category – and only top dawg in one – being the most bad-ass Pit Bull to grab a F1 steering wheel… BTW, I do not hate Ferrari – just never been a huge fan… and still cannot read whether their deal with Massa has been grossly incompetent or the result of an incredibly awesome company!!!
I won’t even consider argueing too much with all you awesome knowledgeable fans on this site – most of u are that damned good…

Button may have looked faster towards the end but he wasnt exactly looking after his tires!Alonso was wise enough too and if he wanted to im sure he could have pushed and gone faster!Anyways he did set 1 1:19.1 on his second last lap faster then anything Button or Vettel managed and he still had tires left @ the end!

Theres no doubt Mclaren have improved but it took them a full 9 races to bring this update.Where Red Bull and Ferrari already had big updates much earlier it wont be long before they bring big improvements to their cars either and im guessing by the time the summer breaks over they would clear of Mclaren yet again.

Red Bull may be clever enough to find every loophole possible like their special engine maps in Germany but they dum enough not have a no1!Webber a average driver but his a good no2!

The tention between Vettel and Webber has never left its still there and Sooner or later Vettel and Webber will find themselves fighting for places or for a win this yr and the result of that isnt going to be that good
for Red Bull!I can imagine another situation like Turkey coming very soon!Red Bull are shooting themselves in the foot by allowing this to continue.

As for Mclaren I think they need 2 be realistic if they want 2 win this years drivers title!Button is 86 behind Alonso realistically he doesnt stand a snow balls chance in Hell! if they were clever they would make him support Hamilton for the remainder of the season!

During Schumi’s days at Ferrari they clearly knew they had the best driver in the world and they were intelligent enough to not shoot themselves in the foot by not fully supporting him!

If Red Bull ever want 2 dominate they way Ferrari did they clearly need 2 fully back Vettel!if Red Bull left the past 2 seasons 2 Webber Alonso would be a triple world champ and Button would be double world champ!

Im sure everytime Webber takes points of Vettel and Button takes points off Hamilton Stefano and Luca have a gigle!

Only 1 driver can be champion and if you have 1 of the 3 best drivers in the world like Red Bull and Mclaren do!Clearly u want to give him every chance of been champion like Ferrari did with Schumi and now with Alonso not keep shooting them in them foot!

Hello James, an off-topic question:
Why does it take the stewards so long to make decisions? Surely the Vettel penalty is not really ‘fair’ – he deserved to come third at least (even though I am a Kimi fan).
It is very disappointing that drivers and results get messed around due to the indecision of the people that are supposed to know the rules. I can understand it if a technical or complicated issue needs to be resolved after the race, but simple things like Vettel going off track (to possibly avoid a collision) should be dealt with immediately. It would have given the fans the excitement of watching him attempt the overtake again, in the last lap, and would have resulted in ‘more representative’ finishing positions than we have now. There is no way that Vettel deseves a 5th place finish.
Surely anybody can go through the rule-book after the fact and apply them unthinkingly – but the stewards are supposed to be able to interpret the spirit of the rules on the spot (much like a referee in another sport)- if they are unable to do this, why have them?

Giving him the third place would regulate the unfair advantage he gained by going off track, but it’s not really a punishment, rather an invitation to do it again, since you had nothing to lose if it didn’t work out.

I don’t think that he tried anything sneaky with that manoeuvre – it was not a blatant case of cutting a corner. Do you think that the punishment fits the crime? I don’t think so – that is why informed people are needed to make a judgement call on the spot, not ‘stewards’ who need to look through the rule book to tell them what to think.

Quite simply has to be Alonso. My prediction after 2004 was that Fernando would be ‘the next Schumacher’, not simply in terms of Championships won, but in temperament, racecraft, guille and class, and this season is simply proving just how right I was.
It interests me that, despite there being several younger champions in recent years it looks like Alonso is reaching his peak at around the same time Schumacher did (Schuey was also 31 when he went on his 5xWDC streak, Alonso is 31 next week…). It does seem that experience still counts for something despite all appearances being that ‘youth’ was becoming the defining characteristic for a champ in the last 7-8 seasons. Alonso is a much better driver than he was in 05/06 (and I don’t want to get into how badly the regs. hampered Ferrari in that era…) and no-one would bet against him making it to 4 or 5 championships. Still, it does make one wonder how good Vettel will be in his 30′s. He starts from a much higher base than either Alonso or Schumacher (imho) and could win a truly staggering number of titles!

Good point about the 31 years of age comparison. I do agree that of all the drivers on the grid today, Alonso is the most Schumacher-like in terms of all-around ability and race craft. He’s always had the race craft and doggedness but not the one lap qualifying blitz or the wet driving ability. Now, he seems to have both covered as well. Due to the budget restrictions today, I doubt he’ll equal Schumi’s 7.
Vettel still tends to make mistakes, loses his cool at times, but then he’s also much younger. He’s going to get better still but what will he be like at his peak? Newey gifted him 2 WDCs early in his career.
Hamilton looked like he was going to be an all-time best in 2007 after the best rookie season of all time. Somehow, he has not improved as much as expected or needed. Jackie Ickx was a young phenom too but never went on to the next level of the immortals.
Just like any sport, a drive’s career is not judged on the base talent they started with but how they worked on their craft their entire career.

Alonso’s drive at Imola 2005, in a Renault almost two seconds slower than MS’s Ferrari for 13 laps he held the F1 superforce at bey whilst being hit with everything MS and Ferrari had from behind, 7 WDC crown’s all the records you can imagine….. but did Shuey get passed, nope, Alonso was 23… and even with the new regulations i don’t see why he can not equal MS if thats his goal…….

Has to be Alonso. Simply put Alonso is the class of the field because of one thing in my opinion and that is called race craft. Nearly anyone can drive fast, but not everyone can think a race through, the way that Alonso seems to be able to.

He seems to be able to forward think during the race and have the bases covered, eg: knowing when to be quick, knowing when to slow things down, knowing when to push and when not to. This is the difference, and is seen only in a few drivers. Anyone can be quick, but speed does not necessarily win you races.

Alonso. RBR and McLaren had a quicker car than Ferrari, but the way the Spaniard managed to stay out of the DRS zone in the crucial moments of the race was amazing. The smart use of DRS while passing lapped cars to resist Jenson’s attacks was fantastic. His mental strength is phenomenal and unmatchable.

I think you’d need to be blinkered or biased to vote anyone but Alonso. A race win in a car that is not the fastest – in this era of DRS and KERS – is surely noteworthy. Not as emotional or exciting as Valencia but perhaps a greater victory…

I can’t see an argument for anyone else but Alonso, sheer class.
On another note, James will you PLEASE release a book at Christmas full of posts on this site by McLaren fans in particular Hamilton fans they are so funny it would make the perfect Christmas gift!It would keep us all laughing through to the start of next season.

McLaren should have ditched LH when they had the chance in 2007… They’d have at least two world driving championships by now. FA is more consistent and a better driver/team player than LH on all counts. Ohhhhh…. right… it might of been the team as well…

With the inconsistency of most other drivers, Alonso just has to average a 4th place each race for the rest of the season and I think that will be enough for the Championship. He should be able to do this.

Alonso, without a doubt, he didn’t put a foot wrong, and has made more of the Ferrari than anyone expected. Kudos to the team as well giving him an excellent strategy. It is especially impressive given the way Ferrari struggled at the begining of the year and that they still do not feel they have the best car.

OK, so you start from pole and you know that your car is not the quickest on the grid, Vettel 2nd on grid lost four places Shumacher 3 on grid lost 6 places, so by keeping track possition, fending off faster cars managing his tyres showing master class race craft fending off three WDC winners in marginable faster cars does not quallify for driver off the day , Kev’s reply makes equal sense

Please state your criteria for drive of the day and i am sure someone in here will enlighten your insite

It’s a slightly difficult one to call. Alonso drove a strong race throughout, but was never really challenged. Button looked very good, but ultimately didn’t get the job done.

My vote is for Kobayashi, who teamed his trademark gutsy overtakes with impressive speed and tyre management. It’s good to see Kamui moving out of his teammate’s shadow again. Sauber have a very able driver pairing at the moment.

Never really challenged……… constant pressure e from behind, yes a few breathers, mid race and after Button the magic Tyre man had to back off due to lack of grip, only then at the very end was the mid race gap retained, when Alonso was able to put the hammer down due to masterful race craft and tyre management

Look at how close the race and order was, one small mistake and three four cars could pass, look at Vettel, had he settled for third instead of fighting it out with Button…..

I understand why the top finishers are receiving much of the plaudits here. Alonso drove a commanding race, led from start to finish, and there can be no doubt that he is, on current form, the best driver in F1.

Jenson had a good race, no more. He made the moves he needed to make early on in the race which allowed him to compete for the victory. However, it has to be noted that his overtakes at the start of the grand prix were on much slowers cars, Schumacher in the Mercedes was a good second a lap slower. Nonetheless though, a good race. But not driver of the day by a long shot.

To me, driver of the day is about more than just finishing on the podium. Although Raikkonen had a supreme race and deserves all the credit he has received, even his tactical nouse at outright speed is not enough to class him as driver of the day.

You cannot look further than the two Sauber drivers. Kamui and Sergio both drove absolutely stunning races. Perez came from the back of the grid, burning past all in his way. Webber, Di Resta, Hulkenberg, Schumacher but to name a few. Even more stunning was the pace of both drivers when in free air. Anyone who was keeping an eye on the F1 Live Timing screens throughout the race will have seen just how quick they really were. Not only were they at front running pace, at times, Alonso was a good half second slower. Kobayashi simply ran out of laps versus Raikkonen. We think of the Lotus as a quick car but the Sauber had it beaten all ends up in a straight fight.

With that in mind, the two Sauber drivers take a joint driver of the day in my book. 4th and 6th was the least they deserved and the team are looking very competitive as we head towards Budapest.

On a final note, I never hear any discussions for worst driver of the day. People have been raving about Romain Grojean of late. Its true, on average his one lap pace has been a fraction quicker than Kimi so far this season. But his race craft and general intelligence has to be called into question at this point. There is only so many first lap incidents that can be attributed to “bad luck”. Romain is beginning to cost the Lotus team valuable points with his inability to keep his nose clean at the start of Grand Prix. The skill to get through the first lap without incident is in my opinion, one which cannot be thought (despite Sir Jackie Stewart believing otherwise). It is not a skill that Romain appears to have and although experience will reduce the number of errors Romain makes over time, I’m affraid its looking as though he is yet another driver who is lacking in a crucial area of motor racing. All the speed in the world is no good without it.
Jean Eric Vergne is the other driver I would put in the category of flop of the day, along with Mark Webber. Neither showed any real pace throughout the weekend.